Last week, the New York Times Magazine featured a lengthy piece from Jonah Lehrer about two physicists who have formulated a sort of universal law for urban living. The single biggest determinant of urban performance is size – increasingly large agglomerations offer economies of scale – people who live and

Economies of scale in production Economies of scale in trade and transportation Falling transportation and communication costs Proximity with other firms in the same industry Advantages of diversity The quest for the center (of the industry) Buzz and bright lights